ELLEN MLAMBO
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – There are 63 vehicles, including three busses procured and advance payments of US$2, 3 million and ZWL$1, 7 billion made by various public entities in the last three years that are yet to be delivered as bad governance rocks government entities, a top official in the Auditor General’s office has said.
In addition to the vehicles, public institutes also paid for 167 laptops and various office furniture items which are yet to be delivered and some of them since 2020, Maxwell Makotore, the director of audit in the Auditor General’s office has said.
He wondered why provisions of contracts on non-performance by the supplies were not being invoked.
Makotore said this as he raised issues of bad governance in public entities including local authorities during a two-day Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) organised workshop held at a local lodge at Mutirikwi Dam near Masvingo last week.
His presentation was on the Auditor General’s public procurement audit findings for 2023.
He expressed grave concern at governance issues, management of assets, revenue collection and debt recovery, employment, service delivery and procurement of goods and services as the issues that rock local authorities and other government entities.
Audits showed that tender procurement procedures are not followed and payment vouchers, delivery notes and issue vouchers were in some cases not availed for audit. Supporting documents such as requisitions, receipts and goods received notes were also not there, said Makotore.
Suppliers missed delivery dates, breached contracts by not delivering the agreed number of vehicles and varied the approved model of motor vehicles. Contract management was not effectively done as provisions of contracts on non-performance by the suppliers were not invoked.
The other anomaly that he noted was the use of wrong procurement methods and direct procurement method without justification.
The objective of the workshop was to entrench a culture of good governance in procurement.
The workshop was attended by 90% of public entities represented by CEOs and boards of state entities under the theme, Collaborative Governance: Building Partnerships for Effective Public Procurement and Corporate Governance.
“In the local authorities’ report, there were 21 findings reported in the current year covering non-delivery of goods, failure to reflect bids as non-responsive where the bidder has failed to comply with obligations to pay taxes or social security contributions in Zimbabwe. It was also noted that there were unsupported procurement with no quotation, invoice, delivery note, receipts and payment voucher,” said Makotore.
Makotore added that in other instances, the suppliers missed the delivery dates, breached the contracts by not delivering the agreed number of vehicles and varied the approved model of motor vehicles. Contract management was not effectively done as provisions of contracts on non-performance by the supplies were not invoked.
“In the local authorities’ report, there were 21 findings reported in the current year covering issues which include non-delivery of goods, failure to reflect bids as non-responsive where the bidder has failed to comply with obligations to pay taxes or social security contributions in Zimbabwe. It was also noted that there was unsupported procurement with no quotation, invoice, delivery note, receipts and payment voucher,” said Makotore.